Cons:

Some games can best described as "gateway" games. The Heroes of Might and Magic ("HOMM") series is one such example; people who would normally never dream of trying out a turn-based strategy game get sucked into the HOMM world and play turn after turn after turn. "I'll quit after I finish this turn," becomes your mantra. But you don't.

The series is currently up to its fourth installment, which came out earlier this year. It generally wasn't considered as great as its predecessors (it certainly didn't have quite as many changes), but for the most part it was a solid title. An expansion made sense, and so 3DO and New World Computing have given us The Gathering Storm. But it's an expansion in only the barest sense of the word.

The Gathering Storm is the tale of five heroes who must band together to defeat an evil wizard ("Hexis") who threatens all the lands of Lodwar. Before they can take on the powerful mage, they must each first gather a series of magical artifacts. The expansion's first five campaigns revolve around each hero's quest to gather his or her share of the artifacts. You can play those five campaigns in any order, but you can't play the sixth campaign, "The Gathering Storm," until you've accomplished the others. The individual stories don't have the depth of plot that the original campaigns had, but they tie together nicely, and at least they don't require quite as much reading.

The five heroes in the game -- Alita Eventide, Bohb (yes, Bohb the Archmage), Kozuss, Dogwoggle and Agraynel -- have new artwork for their portraits, which seem to be of higher detail than the original game's portraits. The heroes start their respective campaigns around level five and (as with the original game) have caps on the levels they can reach in each mission. The Gathering Storm doesn't include any additional skills or classes, so each of the heroes belongs to one of the existing classes.

In addition to the five new heroes, The Gathering Storm has four new monsters, all of which are minions of the evil wizard, Hexis: goblin knights, evil sorceresses, dark champions and gargantuans. (The goblin knight is a level three creature while the others are all level four.) None of the new creatures have any new abilities, but they combine their abilities in different ways. For example, the gargantuan, a large earth elemental resembling the behemoth, attacks twice with an area effect (similar to the Cyclops) and suffers no melee penalties. With only four new monsters, you'll find that the game is quite stingy with them, and you'll mostly be fighting the same creatures you fought in the original game.

You'll also find the seven new adventure objects a disappointment. Five are conservatories, which are buildings in which the hero can purchase spell scrolls. (Each conservatory covers one type of magic.) The other two buildings are coliseums; one coliseum lets heroes fight faerie dragons to gain levels, while the other lets them fight black dragons.

The Gathering Storm does include sixteen new artifacts. If certain artifacts are worn together, they give the wearer new abilities independent of the individual items. For example, wearing the Tiger Armor and the Tiger Helm while wielding the Frost Hammer grants the hero Regeneration and Dragon Strength in addition to the abilities the individual items grant. Most of the artifacts are powerful on their own, but they're consistent with the better artifacts that already exist in the game.

The editor has been updated to include the new heroes, objects, magic items and creatures; obviously, you'll need the expansion in order to play maps with those items in them. Even if you create a map in The Gathering Storm without any of the new features, you still can't play it without having the expansion.

The new artifacts in the game are available in the editor to populate your levels.

The last change added to this expansion is the addition of the multiplayer patch, which is already available for free for the original game from 3DO's support site. Multiplayer is available through GameSpy, IPX LAN, and direct TCP/IP connection. When 3DO delayed adding multiplayer into the original HOMM IV, gamers hoped it was because they would actually make a version that was fun to play with their friends. Alas, this is still not the case. You can't do anything during the other person's turn except look around, so you spend a lot of time waiting and waiting and waiting. You can't even watch their battles. It would've been nice if during the other person's turn you could pre-purchase buildings and units so that when your turn comes, everything is instantly taken care of. Not only would turns go faster, but you wouldn't be so bored you'd need to read a book while you're waiting.

Overall, The Gathering Storm is a disappointing expansion for Heroes IV. The few new items available could've easily been available for free, while the biggest change to the game - multiplayer -- is already free. Unless you can get the expansion at a greatly discounted price, it's better to pass on it.